AIr Architecture design Studio Jonathon Belotti (539430) Semester 1 2013
Contents 1
Architecture as Discourse The signs of a Building - Building as ideas w/ Coop Himmelb(l)au & Bjarke Ingells Group
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Computerisation & Computation w/ MAD Office & Aranda\Lasch Architecture
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Parametric Modelling Coding, Programming and Parameters w/ Aranda\Lasch Architecture
33 41
Agorithmic Exploration Conclusion and Learning Outcomes
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Architecture as a discourse the signs of a building - buildng as ideas I am trying to become a good architect. The younger me practiced drawing the houses of his dreams, massive, sprawling and neo-classical; this was good, beautiful architecture. I still admire Palladio’s villas, however further experiences of architecture, its discourse and programs like AutoCAD and Rhino have and will continue to I think, hold not the pen, but the computer as a central tenet of a new emerging Architectural philosophy and theory.
physical reposte to the form and organisation of gothic and classical architecture, emphasising more modern philosophical ideas of the Euclidean spatial landscape and the love of the machine and industry.
These ideas and more are contained within this building, bestowed upon by the discourse of architecture. Layering on this, is the idea that simultaneously the architectural object is drawing ideas from the discourse to form Architecture as a discourse is a subject its signs and symbols, and then feeding matter that is made broader and deeper back this back into it, adding to and rein(or narrower and shallower) by the com- terpreting the wider dynamic discursivity. plexity with which participators in the discourse connect architectural phenomena Relatively new to this discourse is the (both built and theoretical entities) to the computation and computational design, wider landscape of general human activi- creating forms, structures and organisaties. These may be the sciences, perform- tions from parameters and algorithms. ing arts, or driving cars and writing novels. This type of ‘parametric design’ has opened up new and exciting possibiliIn Architecture and Visual Culture, Wil- ties and the products of it represent the liams identifies the building as a sign. This changing philosophies & cultures, and the sign I see as being either as simple or evolving technologies of the humanity. complex as the person interacting with the building can make it. The Villa Savoye With this has come the introduction of the can be simple a house, with all that things ‘blob’ entity into architectural discourse. connotations of bedrooms, bathrooms, Existing already in the minds of the public living rooms etc. Or it can be seen as a through its representations in film, Greg
DISCOURSE: STATE 1
ARCHITECTURAL CREATION Architecture created from information
DISCOURSE: STATE 2 Resulting architecture becomes part of discourse, adding to and interacting with existing information.
Existing discourse of Information
F=ma
DIAGRAM OF THE WORKING OF DISCOURSE WITHIN ARCHITECTURE
BMW Welt (Bmw World) ARCHITECTS: Coop Himmelb(l)au Location: Munich, germany 2007
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Lynn describes the absorption of it into architecture and morphology theory and the subsequent efforts to use isomorphic polysurfaces to create, describe and visualise them. The blob is so vastly different from discrete architectural ideas such as the column or wall, it exists simultaneously as a singularity and a multiplicity. It is too complex to utilise without computation, but with computation architecture have already produced buildings that employ blob theory for the benefit of users and in the creation of form.
form of a cloud through time. Algorithm form construction has been used, creating fractals, scale-invariance, very sophisticated notions of symmetry, self-similarity and complex hierarchy to create a form of great complexity but creative consistency.
Though these forms may seem at first polar with Guimard’s Art Nouveau work. The twisting iron flora motifs and BMW Welt cloud representation are both examples of Biophilia. This is the “urge to affiliate with other forms of life”. Despite the vast changes in method and differBMW Welt in Munich is a 21st Century ence in time, they both seem to conbuilding that has a few important discur- nect to the architectural discourse of sive elements. This building is more than man and his relationship with nature. just a functional space for BMW to sell cars. Evidence of this is the German gov- I feel personally that these new forms are ernment’s interest in having it completed very exciting visually, just as the Art Nouin time for the 2006 world cup in Munich; veau movements architectural examples this building is sending an important mes- would have been to the viewing public. sage about architecture to the world. I This is very relevant and helpful to the personally see it as like a signpost and ex- Gateway projects need to make a “signifhibitor of the progress and changes of the icant impact”. Parametric design has the architecture discourse, directly related to capabilities to produce, new, unfamiliar the wider interdiscursivity of life on earth. and powerful arresting forms, as seen in Coop Himmelblau’s BMW Welt Building. This buildings form is interesting, and is modelled on the dynamically changing The parametric has also developed and
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made more sophisticated the problem solving area of Architecture. Bjarke Ingells Group are well known for their pragmatic approach to parametric design. 8Tallet a housing development, took information about required programme, sunlight, mobility and context within an urban fabric to shape and subtract from their bulk volume. The result is an atypical housing block form that has employed algorithms to increase the building efficiency and effectiveness in delivering set outcomes. The 8Tallet Building and BIG’s work in general provides and impressive and extensive catalogue of example from which a parametric design for the Gateway project can be justified. The use of computation would be very effective at optimising designs for budget considerations, structure, and complex (though easily fabricated) form .
8 Tallet housing ARCHITECTS: bjarke ingells group Location: copenhagen, denmark 2009
Richard Williams, ‘Architecture and Visual Culture’, in Exploring Visual Culture : Definitions, Concepts, Contexts, ed. by Matthew Rampley (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005), pp. 102 - 116. Lynn, Greg (1998) “Why Tectonics is Square and Topology is Groovy”, in Fold, Bodies and Blobs: Collected Essays ed. by Greg Lynn (Bruxelles: La Lettre volée), pp. 169-182. William J.R. Curtis, Modern Architecture Since 1900, Ch 10, “Le corbusier’s quest for ideal form”, pp 163-182. Definition of “algorithm” in Wilson, Robert A. and Frank C. Keil eds(1999) in The Mit Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science (London: The MIT Press) pp.11-12 Wilson, Edward O. Biophilia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1984. Print. “8 House / BIG” 20 Oct 2010. ArchDaily. Accessed 14 Mar 2013. <http://www.archdaily.com/83307> Big.dk (2012) BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group. [online] Available at: http://www.big.dk/#projects-lego [Accessed: 14 Mar 2013]. “BMW Welt / Coop Himmelb(l)au” 22 Jul 2009. ArchDaily. Accessed 14 Mar 2013. <http://www.archdaily.com/29664>
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ordos Museum ARCHITECTS: mad office Location: ordos, inner mongolia, china 2005
Comperisation & Computation Design, I believe, can be usefully depicted and discussed in within the concept of Design Space Exploration. Within this design space exist design representations, intentional entities that inform on the intended architectural entity. Design space exploration, being the act of exploring design alternatives within a framework that see alternatives as connected along patch with a meaningful sense of possibility and connectivity, discussed by Woodbury & Burrow in their article “Whither design space?” (2006), is applicable and useful to this age of computational design in architecture. Proceeding from this ‘base’ idea, the issue of creativity in computational design will be discussed and the authenticity of this creativity evaluated. In a fast developing, synergetic system of human and computer design efforts, challenges exist in how to work creatively in computational design and information systems. These challenges are namely the problem of balancing realist and relativist design ideas in a computational framework, as well as the management of human expectations (Hoffman et al 2005). However, I am highly optimistic as to the potential of computational design to deliver even-
tually, an excellent synthesis of human and computational creative efforts that amplifies the traditional design ability of a human to exciting, powerful and refined levels. Computation of the design space has been a significant and powerful step-forward for computational design. The design space throw up many opportunities and challenges for designers. Conceptually the design space is vast, containing an enormous amount of design alternatives for any given design brief. The task of researchers like Woodbury and Burrow has been to make the design space more accessible through computation. Even the simple “undo” feature in any AutoCAD, ArchiCAD or Sketch Up program is a powerful tool for retracing back through progressively older design ‘alternatives’. Replay, the idea of retrieving and reusing a past design idea has found computational expression in “copy & paste”, and a more complicated computational operation “copy and apply path”. The latter uses algorithms to retrieve, copy and the apply a set of “rule applications”, with the resulting design representation being an exploration of those rules
13 from a different starting state (Woodbury and Burrow 2006). This can be conceptualised as copying the specific design patch that led to the production of Le Corbusier’s Villa La Roche and ‘applying’ it to a different starting point, for example the early beginnings of Frank Gehry’s Museum of Bilbao. In reality designers would find the task of translating the design ‘path’ taken by Le Corbusier into a computer’s grammar, such that it could create the new design representation. Even then there is the trouble of adapting the ‘path’s’ algorithms to a new context such that the subtleties of each rule are not corrupted within its new design space. What I think this demonstrates, is that even only touching briefly on computational efforts to create, track and retrace design spaces, its ability to “amplify” the design work of a designer is great. This, obviously, was made possible by the design of algorithm, and it has other important uses. Algorithms are currently utilised regularly in a more pure calculation sense. With algorithms, computers can rapidly calculate forces within a structure, angles of sunlight penetration, material heat transmutability, building costs, and the list could go on. The logic of these computational operations is quite similar to the mathematics that would be employed by a human to calculate these things. In this case the “amplification” (Woodbury & Burrow 2006) of design ability is that of speed. The computational technique of representing design states through render and 3D modelling is another important computational technique, and probably the
most immediately striking. A product of a hard representation, the 3D model makes algorithmic inferences about the referent architectural object, and then translates these into a visually communicable image (Woodbury & Burrow 2006). This is a powerful tool for communicating design to designers and too others such as clients. Once created these modelled and rendered representations form a ‘state’ within the design space, which is stored and organised so that it may be utilised later on. Though these design activities existed prior to computation, it is the new speed and accuracy afforded by computation that has increased the mobility of designers through design space. Though people would disagree, I feel that creativity exists within CAD Architecture. Quite simply, I think that though the presence of creativity within computational design is the subject of research and debate, CAD creativity is evidenced by the multitude of architectural works created with computation as a supplement or as the sole design tool. The work of MAD Office Beijing, for example, demonstrates the results of form-finding through computational parametric design. Using a definition of creativity as the production of something novel and useful (Musta’amal, Norman, Hodgson 2009), the Denmark Pavilion in Kobenhavn (see below) certainly does not seem unoriginal and useless. Even an accusation that design using algorithm is uncreative in the sense of being unresponsive to design problems and arbitrary, I am of the opinion that the re-application of algorithms that produce lines, curves, surfaces and fractals is a creative and imaginative process, even if
sinosteel international plaza ARCHITECTS: mad office Location: tianjin, china 2006-12
Denmark Pavilion
ARCHITECTS: mad office Location: copenhagen, denmark 2006
15 the utility of the practice is questioned.
The aforementioned research into creativity with CAD has yielded results that support my belief in creative computational design. Behaviour “associated with creativity” can be observed and recorded when CAD is being used by designers. Computer Aided Design is itself an activity associated with creativity, and also supports creative activity outside of it (Musta’amal et al 2009). Acknowledging the existent of creativity is not the end of the debate on CAD’s role in design. It has been suggested the creativity in CAD is “Fake” and that is is conspiring against true creativity (Lawson 1999). This dividing of legitimate and illegitimate creativity has something to say about design in the CAD era, though is maybe just a symptom of a lag between the progress of technology within architecture and the academic and social attitudes towards it. New forms are challenging the existence of current aesthetic frameworks. Equally new design practice that relies in upon the advancement of mathematics, computation and science for progression are odds with the more traditional sources of design progression and evaluation. I think it may be possible that the rapid advancement in architectural design practice has created a lacuna stretching between past architectural philosophies and a new one, nascent and constantly forming in response to the increasing discourse of computational architecture. Therefore, any suggestion that computational design possesses ‘fake’
creativity, may be a product of a lack of theoretical understanding of a new kind of creativity, that has yet to be gifted academic legitimacy.
Denmark Pavilion
ARCHITECTS: mad office Location: copenhagen, denmark 2006
An installation by Aranda/Lasch: They acknowledge that their forms derive from “elaborate mistakes” (Phaidon 2009), which are then instilled with meaning and attributed function. This can be interpreted as a creative weakness, or a strong and different creative activity. On the other hand, if architecture is a collection of signs with meaning and implication (Williams 2005), a hole opens up in computational creativity. The computational landscape, containing highly complex mathematical and scientific concepts, happens to be rather user friendly. In my brief research into the theory of fractal geometry, a common but recent phenomena of architectural form-finding, I was quickly lost in an uncommunicable mathematical language. My point is that there may be an issue, from a creative standpoint of a designer employing computational techniques they do not understand. The grasshopper plug-in for rhino lets me create a 3D Voronoi diagram for application in my design work, and I have no idea how it works. In my opinion a lack of understanding of something reduces your ability to be creative with it. If we are ascribing meaning to these new complex computed forms, should we understand how they work? If we don’t understand what we are using in design, maybe we are being creative but in a way that is shallow and “fake” (Lawson 1999).
vertu pavilion
ARCHITECTS: mad office Location: milan, Italy 2011
17 However, proceeding from the contention that computational architecture can and is creative, there is still a disconnect between creativity that takes place within computed information systems and the human mind. Put simply, in order for a computational information system to best enable creativity, it has to be able to change from realist and relativist viewpoints (Hoffman et al 2005). Currently the representational qualities of CAD programs are on the side of being too realist and literal. Information systems design for creative design encounter a programmatic pitfall where design states a formed as computed concrete entities, losing the relativist subtlety and nuance indescribable in the information systems (such as AutoCADâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s) grammar (Woodbury and Burrow 2006). Despite current debate on CADâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s creative quality or the limitations of current design programs in aiding us in the exploration of design space or the straddling of the realist/relativist creative dichotomy, I am excited about computational architecture, envisioning huge potential for these new methods. I see no strong enough barriers, given time, to the perfect synthesis of design relationship between human & computer. Kalay (2004) saw a symbiotic relationship where human contributed the total creative input, though I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see this as necessary or beneficial. Contribution of creativity from computers could potentiate new and better design, without displacing the human creative effort. After all, computer programming is currently a human effort, and therefore all computer creativity would still indirectly be human. Within the symbiotic system, human ca-
pabilities would be amplified by computers in the areas described by Woodbury and Burrow (2006). The facilities of speed, recall, codification and replay, being supplemented heavily by computation frees the designer to push new boundaries. Computation is not a cage around the creative; it is constantly opening new doors and creating the novel (and useful).
the morning line
ARCHITECTS: aranda\lasch Location: sevilla, spain & london, uk 2006-8
sinosteel international plaza ARCHITECTS: mad office Location: tianjin, china 2006-12
Hoffmann, O., Cropley, D. H., Cropley A. J., Nguyen, L. and Swatman, P. (2005), ‘Creativity, Requirements and Perspectives’, Australasian Journal of Information Systems, Vol. 13, No. 1, September 2005. pp. 159-175. Yehuda E. Kalay, Architecture’s New Media : Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2004), pp. 5 – 25 Lawson, Bryan (1999). ‘’Fake’ and ‘real’ creativity using computer Aided design: Some Lessons from herman hertzberger’, in Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Creativity & Cognition, ed. by ernest edmonds and Linda candy (new York: Acm press), pp. 174-179 terzidis, Kostas (2006). Algorithmic Architecture (Boston, mA: elsevier), p. xi
MUSTA’AMAL, A.H., NORMAN, E.W.L. and HODGSON, T., 2009. Gathering empirical evidence concerning links between computer aided design (CAD) and creativity. Design and Technology Education: an International Journal, 14 (2), pp. 53-66
(2009). 10 x 10 / 3: 100 architects, 10 critics. London, Phaidon. Richard Williams, ‘Architecture and Visual Culture’, in Exploring Visual Culture : Definitions, Concepts, Contexts, ed. by Matthew Rampley (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005), pp. 102 - 116. Woodbury, Robert F. and Andrew L. Burrow (2006). ‘Whither design space?’ Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing, 20 , 2, pp. 63-82
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Parametricism
Coding, Programming and Parameters Aranda\Lasch Architecture produces parametric architecture with ‘code’ (or script), code being something that can convert information into representation.1 Their architecture is parametric when it works within system of parameters, taken to mean a constraining variable which when organised within algorithms (which make up code) produces a parametric/algorithmic model that represents something.2 Aranda\Lasch ‘s parametric architecture is itself focused on the use of code to produce complex form, challenging conventional design theory and practice.3 More generally their work can be positioned within Parametricism. A vague and unclear concept, Parametricism will for the purposes of discussion and critique be understood as a paradigm of architecture that redefines the theoretical research and practical processes undertaken in architecture.4 This research and process, more specifically engages and encompasses the ideas of code, scripting, computation, parameter and algorithm. This discussion will explore the current state of Parametricism in architecture, returning to Arana\Lasch’s work to ground discussion in real world practice.
Parametricism’s relationship with scripting will be explained, and then further, Parametricism and its entailed architectural theories and practices will then be critiqued to reveal issues with its legitimacy as an ideological and philosophical movement, and the merit and utility of the architecture parametric design practice tends to produce. Determined to not simply attack Parametricism, I will discuss what is required of Parametricism, and argue that these requirements will be fulfilled. Then, hopefully with Parametricism resting on a solid base, I can assert the effectiveness with which a parametric design could fulfil the brief requirements of the Gateway Project. Aranda\Lasch Architecture’s creations are produced through the generation of code/script.5 Code is a major part of parametric design and Parametricism. However it script does not encompass parametric design. Code is in fact, sometimes not even necessary for parametric design, as a skilful architect can respond to parameters and shape form, organise programme etc. without the use of a computer and its code.6 A further distinction between code (and the act
the morning line
ARCHITECTS: aranda\lasch Location: sevilla, spain & london, uk 2006-8
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grotto pavilion
ARCHITECTS: aranda\lasch Location: sevilla, spain & london, uk 2006-8
of ‘coding’ or ‘scripting’) and parametric design is that architects and designers can use tools founded on code without ever engaging with it personally. In this situation the architect places all his trust in the ability of the computer programmer to produce code for programs like AutoCAD that effectively achieves his/ her parametric design aims.7 If coding is not synonymous with Parametricism but Parametricism can encompass coding, then Parametricism must contain something more to it. On top of this inconsistency with coding, Parametricism has many more conceptual and semantic issues. When Aranda\ Lasch design something like the Grotto Pavilion, they are doing much more than blindly and arbitrarily building algorithms to produce its modular boulder form. They are employing scientific concepts like the quasi-crystal8 , traditional formfinding techniques (“small parts, larger wholes”9 ), an understanding of “a grotto”, and an idea of an intentional end. Parametricism currently seems to have trouble identifying which activities, ideas, purposes, processes and results should be considered Parametric, especially when these things may contradict each
other. This stems from Parametricism as a concept and movement lacking philosophical coherency. The Modernist movement was part of an ideology and philosophy, Modern-ism.10 This ideology had central tenets, it directed things towards a purpose, venerated and denigrated ideas and acts, and was generally a pervasive way of thinking that penetrated not just architecture, but fashion, art, politics, literature and ethics (as did Post-modernism).11 When Aranda\Lasch say that they want to “surprise” and “frustrate you conception of what a thing should be like”12 they are communicating intentions, purposes and desires which contain within them valuable beliefs and ideas of their personal design philosophy. At the moment however, there is no way to either place their philosophy within a wider philosophy of Parametricism, on the basis of which it can be credited or rejected. It is interesting when Aranda\Lasch express desire to “produce and infinite variation”13 , but is this a Parametricist idea or not? If their work cannot be understood within its correct context or paradigm, then an accurate critique is impossible
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and opens what may be good work up to the ridicule of competing philosophies like modernism or minimalism. In the area of critical evaluation, Parametricist design work has been labelled “egregious” in form, “anti-contextual”, superficial and stemming from a “fake creativity”.14 Aranda\Lasch personally have had their work described as being “ingenious execution tied to questionable motives”.15 The flashy parametric architecture bursting upwards out of the sand is seduction and wonderful, yet seems to compromise Parametricism’s strength in its critique of other architectural theories and methods, to the ascension of its own.16 When referring to their Yeasayer Project even they admitted that they “don’t think it’s clear to [them] what the piece really is”.17 When parametric design displays a lack of understanding of its methods, a lack of exploration of its potentials and a lack of thinking on its purposes and uses, the paradigm of Parametricism is in troubled territory. However, rather than being a symptom of poor standards in the Parametric design practice, I think it is equally likely that criticism is coming from a place of
misunderstanding. The design phenomena are being encountered by people who are possibly still thinking within a different Architectural paradigm, placing it in older contexts and judging it on different (read: inappropriate) criteria. Both the Parametricist and the Criticiser are a fault I think. The former has not established a clear philosophy and framework to understand their work, partly because they do not themselves understand it. The latter is yet to free/separate himself from an incompatible mode of thinking. However, Aranda\Lasch have received praise from critics,18 and Parametricism is not a fatefully flawed architectural paradigm. With a coherent, acceptable philosophy, a network of skilled architects pushing the limits of parametric design and time, Parametricism can become a significant, important and fulfilling venture of Architectural theory and practice .19 It is possible to identify philosophical tenets of Parametricism. Although strictly, all design is produced within parameters, Parametricism is explicit in its response to them and makes effort to code these design parameters into parameters
yeasayer crystalline stage ARCHITECTS: aranda\lasch Location: 20012
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communicable to computers, such that more complex relationships and interrelations can be calculated. However, this prescription for correlation and interrelation should not be at the expense of genuine meaning within systems connections. When Schumacher called for “differentiated” and “correlated” parametric systems, he did so without providing a purpose of differentiation and correlation to architecture. Parametricism must not assume, as Schumacher does, that it is superior to Modernism, Post-Modernism and Minimalism, there ought to be reasons.20 I think these reasons can be found in Parametricisms alignment with Science, Engineering and mathematics, through code.21 Computation in Architecture provides opportunity to base design on the empirical, and to draw meaning from the scientific and the spirit of this contemporary scientific age. An architecture that seems to rest on the foundations of science, maths and engineering seems much stronger than an architecture that is founded on the thoughtless production of blob-form.22 This kind of approach to Parametricism provides a path for Architects to direct their learning along. The ultimate aim
of a quantitatively useful architecture, with empirical demonstrable value gives Architects a skyhook to pull themselves from the superficial construction of malleable, plastic and complex forms to a deep understanding of parametric design capabilities for materials, programme, structure and phenomenology, not necessarily form. A remedy to all this confusion in philosophy and unacceptability of design standards is time. The computer has developed so quickly, and brought with it a rapid increase in complexity in science, mathematics and engineers that has resulted in an architecture paradigm, Parametricism, that is perhaps the most difficult of all to understand and master.23 Time, I believe, will discard the superfluous theory and practice, drawing clarity from complexity and building great ‘Parametric Architects’ from the ones currently engaging in (valuable) “exploratory play” .24 This idea can be attributed to Aranda\Lasch quite directly. In the creation of The Morning Line they collaborated with an artists and the Arup Advanced Geometry Unit (Arup AGU) to produce an “open cellular structure” with “no final form”.25 Complex geom-
the morning line
ARCHITECTS: aranda\lasch Location: sevilla, spain & london, uk 2006-8
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etries were produced from the most contemporary algorithms, yet the result was not an entirely functional pavilion. Designed for the performance of music, the open pavilion does display a level of functionalism, in that it is a “modular structure” capable of adapting to context and the type of performance. However, one always gets the sense that what was most interesting and important were the abstract concepts of a “cosmological theory” and of a structure “generating itself and falling apart”, and how these manifested in a new type of form-finding process. Parametricism has in the Gateway Project an opportunity. No design paradigm is secure in holding the interest of architects, clients and the public so it is important in this design to work closer towards a coherent architecture philosophy and closer towards Parametri-
cism’s potential to create a truly great work of architecture, one that engages with context, its users, is highly efficient and functional all the while expressing monumentally a certain telos driving the need to produce this kind of architecture. Finally, and although this may seem like pandering to the client’s desire for shock value, a parametric work can be of awe-inspiring physicality. The form of this work can embody all the ambition, excitement and possibility inherent in the burgeoning field of Parametricism, and these would not be a pointless emotionality. If the world is currently a place of plurality, subjectivity and uncertainty26 then I think this; a parametric design can respond contextually to this century’s zeitgeist with the aforementioned emotions, and being an antidote to it, and not at all contradict it.
“The wildest things that you can think of, just because they are not known to exist, doesn’t mean that they don’t, or doesn’t mean that they can’t” –Chris Lasch
Footnotes 1 Petzold, Charles, Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software (Seattle: Microsoft Press, 1999), p. 32. 2 Woodbury, Robert, Elements of Parametric Design, 1 edn (London: Routledge, 2010), p. 39. 3 Phaidon Press, 10 X 10 \ 3 (New York: Phaidon Press Inc, 2009), p. 6. 4 Schumacher, Patrik, Patrik Schumacher on parametricism- ‘Let the style wars begin’ (2010) <http:// www.architectsjournal.co.uk/the-critics/patrik-schumacher-on-parametricism-let-the-style-warsbegin/5217211.article> [accessed 27 March 2013]. 5 Phaidon Press, 10 X 10 \3, 6 6 Daniel, Patrik Schumacher- Parametricism (2010) <http://www.nzarchitecture.com/blog/index. php/2010/09/25/patrik-schumacher-parametricism/> [accessed 27 March 2013]., (Patrik Schumacher in the comments)
7 Burry, Mark, Scripting Cultures: Architectural Design and Programming, 1 edn (Chichester: Wiley, 2011), p. 10. 8 ‘Design Miami Chat Shows: Aranda\Lasch’, Dezeen Magazine, Vimeo, 14 January 2009 <http:// vimeo.com/11139114> 9 ‘Building Awe-Inducing Crystalline Structures’, The Creators Project, Youtube, 14 March 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=t6KoTNt2_WY#!> 10 Mayer, Adam, Style and the Pretense of ‘Parametric’ Architecture (2010) <http://adamnathanielmayer.blogspot.com/2010/06/styleandpretenseofparametric.html (cached only)> [accessed 27 March 2013]., 2 11 Mayer, Style and the Pretense of ‘Parametric…”, pg. 4 12 Holmes, Kevin, Making the Mundane Cosmic: Meet Modular Designers Aranda\Lasch (2013) <http://thecreatorsproject.com/blog/making-the-mundane-cosmic-meet-modular-designers-arandalasch> [accessed 27 March 2013]. 13 The Creators Project, Vimeo 14 Mayer, Style and the Pretense of ‘Parametric…”, pg. 3 15 McGuirk, Jason, Aranda\Lasch: Cracking architecture’s code (2008) <http://www.iconeye.com/ read-previous-issues/icon-056-%7C-february-2008/aranda/-lasch-cracking-architectures-code> [accessed 27 March 2013]. 16 Leach, Neil, The Anaesthetics of Architecture (Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1999), p. 78. 17 The Creators Project, Vimeo 18 Phaidon, 10 X 10 \3, 6 19 Schumacher, Patrik Schumacher on Parametricism, pg 1 20 Ibid, pg. 1 21 McGuirk, Cracking Architecture’s Code 22 Lawson, Bryan, ‘’Fake’ and ‘real’ creativity using computer Aided design: Some Lessons from Herman Hertzberger’, in Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Creativity & Cognition, ed. by Ernest Edmonds and Linda Candy(New York: ACM Press, 1999), p. 174-179
23 Burry, Mark, Scripting Cultures, p. 19 24 Woodbury, Elements of Parametric Design, pg. 39 25 Choi, Leeji, The Morning Line by Matthew Ritchie with Aranda\Lasch and Arup (2009) <http:// www.designboom.com/art/the-morning-line-by-matthew-ritchie-with-aranda-lasch-and-arup/> [accessed 27 March 2013]. 26 Mayer, Style and the Pretense of ‘Parametric’ Architecture, pg. 4
REFERENCES Burry, Mark, Scripting Cultures: Architectural Design and Programming, 1 edn (Chichester: Wiley, 2011), p. 10. Choi, Leeji, The Morning Line by Matthew Ritchie with Aranda\Lasch and Arup (2009) <http://www. designboom.com/art/the-morning-line-by-matthew-ritchie-with-aranda-lasch-and-arup/> [accessed 27 March 2013]. Daniel, Patrik Schumacher- Parametricism (2010) <http://www.nzarchitecture.com/blog/index. php/2010/09/25/patrik-schumacher-parametricism/> [accessed 27 March 2013]. Fairs, Marcus, Design Miami Chat Shows: Aranda\Lasch (2013) <http://www.dezeen.com/2009/01/14/ design-miami-chat-shows-arandalasch/> [accessed 27 March 2013]. Holmes, Kevin, Making the Mundane Cosmic: Meet Modular Designers Aranda\Lasch (2013) <http:// thecreatorsproject.com/blog/making-the-mundane-cosmic-meet-modular-designers-arandalasch> [accessed 27 March 2013]. Lawson, Bryan, ‘’Fake’ and ‘real’ creativity using computer Aided design: Some Lessons from Herman Hertzberger’, in Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Creativity & Cognition, ed. by Ernest Edmonds and Linda Candy(New York: ACM Press, 1999), p. 174-179 Leach, Neil, The Anaesthetics of Architecture (Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1999), p. 78. Mayer, Adam, Style and the Pretense of ‘Parametric’ Architecture (2010) <http://adamnathanielmayer. blogspot.com/2010/06/styleandpretenseofparametric.html (cached only)> [accessed 27 March 2013]. McGuirk, Jason, Aranda\Lasch: Cracking architecture’s code (2008) <http://www.iconeye.com/readprevious-issues/icon-056-%7C-february-2008/aranda/-lasch-cracking-architectures-code> [accessed 27 March 2013]. Petzold, Charles, Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software (Seattle: Microsoft Press, 1999), p. 32. Phaidon Press, 10 X 10 \ 3 (New York: Phaidon Press Inc, 2009), p. 6. Woodbury, Robert, Elements of Parametric Design, 1 edn (London: Routledge, 2010), p. 39. ONLINE ARTICLES: Choi, Leeji, The Morning Line by Matthew Ritchie with Aranda\Lasch and Arup (2009) <http://www. designboom.com/art/the-morning-line-by-matthew-ritchie-with-aranda-lasch-and-arup/> [accessed 27 March 2013]. Holmes, Kevin, Making The Mundane Cosmic: Meet Modular Designers Aranda\Lasch (2013) <http:// thecreatorsproject.com/blog/making-the-mundane-cosmic-meet-modular-designers-arandalasch> [accessed 27 March 2013]. Fairs, Marcus, Design Miami Chat Shows: Aranda\Lasch (2013) <http://www.dezeen.com/2009/01/14/ design-miami-chat-shows-arandalasch/> [accessed 27 March 2013]. Schumacher, Patrik, Patrik Schumacher on parametricism- ‘Let the style wars begin’ (2010) <http:// www.architectsjournal.co.uk/the-critics/patrik-schumacher-on-parametricism-let-the-style-warsbegin/5217211.article> [accessed 27 March 2013]. ONLINE VIDEOS: ‘Architecture Biennale - Aranda\Lasch with IPC (NOW Interviews)’, Biennale Channel, Youtube, 28 August 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg8X-pDaIq0> ‘Building Awe-Inducing Crystalline Structures’, The Creators Project, Youtube, 14 March 2013. <http:// www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=t6KoTNt2_WY#!> ‘Design Miami Chat Shows: Aranda\Lasch’, Dezeen Magazine, Vimeo, 14 January 2009 <http://vimeo. com/11139114> ‘Intensive Fields Lecture 3’, USC Architecture, Youtube, 23 March 2010 <http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=1Kvz0aepheY>
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Algorithmic Exploration Personal Efforts in Rhino 3d with Grasshopper plugin
This is a final render of what I called my Perforated Surface Curvature. I have included it because it is the first thing I created with Grasshopper. After following along with the tutorial and getting an introduction to the capabilities of the Grasshopper plug-in i wanted to create a sort of perforated facade surface for a structure. This surface was to follow one simple rule: the perforation would have their size related to the surfaces curvature. This design problem was the first that I solved using computation and algorithm, and I don’ t think I could have been solved very effectively any other way. The circles were created along the surface and then had their radius related to the mean curvature of the surface. I think that this peice of design has a meaningful form, in that the circle sizes are interrelated with the surface they are punching out. I also think that it is engaging with Bryan Lawson’s idea of ‘fake creativity’. Sure, the circles relate to the surface but if placed in context they would become superficial if this relation had not impact upon the surfaces function, structure in a way that demonstrated utility.
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I was very happy, and even excited when I had successfuly created this form in grasshopper. The curves very made in Rhino 3D though from these I created lofts, curve divisions and then a desired form all with Grasshopper’s algorithm modules. This design was important, because I was picturing a sort of futuristic tower made up of Tubes and structural floor plates that floated between them. This prior conception of my final form forced me to work through Grasshopper to create the desired outcome. Though this was ‘exploratory play’ in the sense that I didn’t know what algorithms would end up working and I would end up using, it felt like design in that it was directed towards a specific form. Maybe what I was doing here was the computational version of sketching, trying to visually depict and solidify and mentally conceived form. Though the end result was 3 dimensionally representable and felt dynamic and powerful, something exciting. Computational Architecture I think has a great tool distinct from traditional design methods in its ability to ‘sketch’ incredibly complicated forms, this Striated Building Strucutre hardly nearing these potentials for complexity.
Striated Building Structure render with shadows
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Geodesic Grid mesh furniture Grid mesh ‘Trampoline’ in context
This week our design task was directed to have a performative and functional aspect, namely to be a peice of furniture. The example we were shown was a lounge, and what I chose to produce was a trampoline kind of lounge peice. The Geodesic curve was an interesting mathematical algorithm for discovering what could be called an ‘efficient curve’. It is used to form the mesh that forms the structure of the design. Learning about Data Trees also uncovered further complexity to parametricism, that I would have thought would be daunting, though it rather seems invigoratingly challenging. Woodbury said that Parametric design is accessible but very difficult to master. I think that if I can produce satisfying design like this Geodesic Grid Mesh Furniture along the path of learning It will be an enjoyable experience.
Geodesic Grid mesh furniture Grid mesh ‘Trampoline’ render
Geodesic Grid mesh furniture Grasshopper Plugin Screenshot:
visual representation of algorithms
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CONCLUSION If it seems like these discussions on the discourse of computational and computerised architecture have only scratched the surface, I hope this feeling bring excitement. The difficulty in grasping the entirety of this ‘style’ or method of architecture is a feature of its complexity, youth and rapid development. We don’t yet know eveything that a parametric computational architecture is, and what can be, though as to the Gateway project, a few important things can be promised. Utilizing advanced form-find techniques made possible only through computation, the design will be striking and exciting. Echoing the metaphor of a gateway, the architectural installation is itself a peice of an evolving discourse on the parametric and computation. If the Gateway project is designed using the techniques argued for in this peice’s
LEARNING OUTCOMES
discussions, it will be a door to new possibilities as well as a monument to acheivments of the architectural feild to date.
Learning about the contemporary Architectural discourse from the beginning of semester, the experience has been invigorating.
The computational design space contains within it new ways of conceiving space, relations between elements, structure and organisation.
For all the accusations of it being superficial, hollow and shallow this area of Architecture seems to have the most energy.
Within it also, is the capacity for discovery of new meanings, and re-interpretations of old sentiments, desires and ambitions. This is not change for changes sake, but a directed effort (as chaotic as it is at times) to reimagine architecture within the spirit and philosophies of the contemporary era, with new alignments to the scientific and mathematical.
I had a general idea of what computational and parametric architecture entails, and had engaged with it sporadically through AutoCAD, though the past weeks have revealed incredible com-
plexity and challenging new ideas. It seems to me that the possibility of a re-seating of architecture within a computational framework it a massive event, even if it is a theoretical one. Not everyone is on board with the computational, and it is likely that being a student I am more receptive to new ideas and different framework (I currently have no stubborn architecture ‘method’). However, it seems to me that an embrace of this new architectural theory and method could lead to a prosperous and meaningful career in Architecture.